Nearly 200 poster sessions featured at Showcase

More than 196 abstracts have been submitted for the Academic Showcase Juried Poster Session to be held 9 a.m.-noon Friday, April 1, in the CUB ballroom and 200 series rooms.

The poster session will celebrate the achievements of individuals engaged in WSU’s central mission: the advancement of scholarship, research and the arts. Work will be displayed in poster or alternate formats for the campus community to view.

Proposals came from undergraduates, grad students, faculty, staff and post-docs from all WSU campuses, said Mary Sanchez Lanier, who chaired the committee that accepted and juried the abstracts. Judging criteria included that the project be from WSU and that it represent research or creative endeavor that highlights WSU’s research mission. Nearly every abstract was accepted, said Sanchez Lanier.

“It was a very impressive group of submissions,” she said.

Some proposals include:
• Goldilocks and the Engineroom of Life, about photosynthesis that needs to be “not too fast, not too slow, but juuuust right”
• Enzymes, the energetic equivalent of 1 ton of TNT that passes though our bodies each year
• Diversity intervention programs
• 4-H in Africa, expanding WSU’s reach via technology.

“It was exciting for the committee to see the diversity of research that is being done and the number of people involved all across the campuses,” said Sanchez Lanier. “It is a good reminder that we are a research university and that permeates everything we do.”

Although the session opens at 9 a.m., poster tables will be staffed from 10 a.m.-noon. Complimentary refreshments will be served.

The president and provost have approved the use of one hour of work time for all WSU employees to attend the Academic Showcase poster session. Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to schedule attendance with supervisors so university operations aren’t disrupted and so all can enjoy the event.